Lacrosse Trading Cards are Upper Deck’s New Venture

Upper Deck has signed an exclusive, multi-year deal to produce trading card sets featuring the top players in Major League Lacrosse (MLL).

“Major League Lacrosse is thrilled to be partnering with the elite trading card company, Upper Deck, to offer our fans the opportunity to collect trading cards of their favorite MLL players of today as well our league legends from the past decade,” said MLL Commissioner David Gross.

Founded in 2001, MLL is comprised of six different teams from across North America: the Boston Cannons, Chicago Machine, Denver Outlaws, Long Island Lizards, Toronto Nationals and Washington (Chesapeake) Bayhawks.

Upper Deck’s first set of MLL cards is expected to be released in conjunction with the league’s annual All-Star Game, which is scheduled for July 8 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

The 2010 MLL season consists of 36 regular-season games that will he held between mid May and late August and culminates with the MLL Championship Weekend, which will be held Saturday and Sunday, August 21 and 22, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. The season begins on Saturday, May 15, with a pair of battles between the Lizards and Bayhawks, and the Outlaws and Cannons.

Long Island Attackman Matt Danowski, a former collegiate standout at Duke and the second player selected overall in the 2008 MLL Draft, will serve as Upper Deck’s MLL spokesman and be featured on packaging.

“I am humbled and honored that Upper Deck has chosen me to be the first MLL player to grace their league trading card packs,” said Danowski. “It is the childhood dream of every kid who has ever played sports to have his face on a trading card. My dream has now come true. This is another important step in growing the MLL and connecting with our fans. I’m thrilled to be a part of the partnership with Upper Deck in helping to grow Major League Lacrosse.”

“Joining forces with Major League Lacrosse provides Upper Deck with a great opportunity to recruit even more sports fans to the card-collecting community,” added Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “The sport of lacrosse continues to build momentum and attract new fans every week, so this will be a terrific way to commemorate some of the outstanding players that Major League Lacrosse has to offer.”

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for more than 30 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected].